An Emm Emm Oh Blog

Benjamin Franklin once said that “in this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

Well here we are in Vanguard, in a glass cage of emotion, debating the good old mechanics of death again. I guess Ben Franklin was a gamer!

Apparently the Sigil Dev team is not going to follow through with the proposed changes to the death penalty system. I guess I was in the minority in believing that it wasn’t really a big change. I don’t want to rant and vent about the death system, because I wouldn’t be able to do it nearly as well as others. But apart from the fact that death would take a little less experience, I’d be willing to bet that the new system they were planning to implement wouldn’t change how most players have been coping with death, because the only real change they were making is taking out the whole concept of bind stones.

There must be some data out there to tell how many players actually are using bind stones on their gear. I’m willing to bet that it’s a tiny fraction, and that many people don’t even know what they are. Brad McQuaid also has mentioned several times that lots of players aren’t aware of altars, and that there is a false assumption that you must fight back to your corpse.

The current death system is just not being used as it was envisioned. Few people bind their gear, fewer carry a second set as backup, and if people do fight back to their tombstones, it’s most likely to recover their gear, rather than regain the lost exp. Putting in essences streamlines the death experience, rather than dumb it down.

The problematic part of the new death system was the issue it would create with bindable gear competing against crafted gear on the brokers. People that were binding their gear before would no longer do so, and that would mean even more of it would have hit the broker. That could be easily remedied with the “Bind on Equip” system of WoW, or the attunement system of EQ2. (same thing different names) In any case, it’s interesting to see yet another debate about death in online gaming!

On another note, I bet if Benjamin Franklin were a mmorpg gamer he’d amend his quote to say that the only things certain are death, taxes, and the eternal question, “where the heck do I hunt?” With a world as large as Telon, and resources scattered around on tons of fansites, it’s hard to know where to go at what level. The Vanguard Dungeon Finder and Sypher’s Spawn Maps are great resources, as are the recently updated Silky Venom Wiki, and Curse Gaming’s quest database, but there are a few spots that seem to get overlooked, and are great areas to check out. Here are a few nice spots that helped me get through my early and mid 20s.

Vampire Slayer Village/Ulla’s Tower: (Thestra) These are two nice spots to pick up quests that can be done solo in your early 20s. The Vampire Slayer Village offers a quest to hunt over at Veshka’s Monastery, a great little spot if you are looking for easy pull, level 19, 2 dot mobs. Ulla’s Tower sends you to a poacher camp that also has level 19ish mobs, although these are 3 dots.

Coastal Graveyard: (Thestra) This is a nice spot for soloing and duoing in the early 20s. If you’re into “grinding” type quests, check out the quests at Alicia’s Graveyard, as well as the Wrenfold Bandits quests and two good quests that involve killing the ghosts of all the shipwrecked sailors on the coast (Ghostly Grog and Haunted Lighthouse). These involve killing mobs that are 3 dot, 20ish mobs. If you’re into traveling, there’s a quest that asks you to visit three lighthouses located along the cliffs, where you can then pick up even more quests. (make sure to check out the Neighbor Coast Lighthouse – you literally have to hop the fence to get in).

Above: The effects of the Sirens – Coastal Graveyard.

If you have a partner or a small group, check out the sirens just off shore. (It’s no wonder there are so many wrecked ships nearby!). There is a quest NPC on a rock near the island that gives a few quests, and a goblin on the shore that asks you to hunt for ingredients on the island. The sirens and hags are 3 dot, level 22-24ish mobs, and they run so it’s good to have snare. There is also a nice little “event” you can trigger from the quest, where you can summon Maera, boss hag of Siren Island. She has friends though, so you’ll definitely need a good group for it.

Also, since you are in the area, if you have time, check out the Deebs for a fun quest called “Making a Splash in the Deebs,” given out by Guard Abery on the north western bridge. If you were the kind of person in EQ that would jump into a pool of water to try to pickup 1k copper that someone sadistically dropped there, you will love this quest.

Above: The view from the Deebs Bridge. I’m about to make a splash!

The Guard will ask you to jump through three wisp rings and return to him for a reward of one copper. The jump is hilariously fun, as long as you don’t hit the rocks below, but it takes for freaking ever to run all the way around the cliff to get back up to him. It’s a cool spot, if you have time to kill!

Shrine of the Flame: (Thestra) This is hard to find, but it’s just to the east off the road as you leave Three Rivers and turn south towards New Targonar. There are a few quests here to kill Ahsendregs, given by the fairies at the shrine. I just noticed this spot, but it looks like the quests are for level 23ish, and the Ashendregs seem to be 2 dot mobs around level 25ish.

Above: Shrine of the Eternal Flame in the moonlight.

Trengal Keep: (Thestra) I wrote about this dungeon before, and while it’s a great place for a group, it also has a lot of quests that a small group can do in the mid 20s, or someone soloing could do in their late 20s. The nice thing about this spot is that you have plenty to do, so even if you are waiting for a group you can still kill a few spiders in the meteors nearby, or pick off some of the Gulgrethor orcs that patrol the area, and grab a little extra experience as well as some decent rewards. Just watch out for those Ebon Drakes!

Those are a few spots that I have enjoyed in my 20s. There are plenty of places to go though, and I’m constantly annoying my guildmates by rambling on and on about things I want to see and do. The abundance of things to do, combined with the fact that there is no one path to progression, makes the game great, but also makes it challenging to find out where to go. Hopefully this provides a few more options, and some nice alternatives to the Donovan’s Roost/Infineum route. I’d love to hear of any other good hunting spots for the 20s, so feel free to share some!

Thanks sooo much for the suggestions. I’m halfway through lvl 19, wasting xp towards 3 dots 18 lvl Tauthians that often kill me , but I couldn’t figure any better place to hunt, before reading your post. Thank you again